Monday, September 14, 2015

Iraq’s Barzani Calls For Elections To Determine His Fate, May Mean 2017

Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is no closer to
resolving the controversy over the expired term of regional President Massoud
Barzani. Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and his opponents, the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Gorran/Change List cannot agree on how
to move forward. Barzani has called for an election to determine his fate if
the parties cannot agree. He may mean the next Kurdish elections in 2017 rather
than any time soon.

In September 2015, President Barzani said
that if the Kurdish parties can’t come to an agreement about his presidency
then the people should decide the matter. Barzani’s term expired on August 20,
but he has remained in office. According
to the law, speaker of the Kurdish parliament Youisf Mohammed Sadiq was
supposed to become president on an interim basis, but Barzani has ignored him.
The KDP pointed to a ruling by the Shura Council that Barzani can stay in
office for two more years until the next round of elections. That might be what
the president is talking about when he calls for a vote. The newly formed
Kurdish Election Commission said
that it is the only organization that has a right to call for new elections,
but that it would take up to six months to prepare for them. The commission
attempted to meet with Barzani and KRG Premier Nechirvan Barzani in late May
2015 to discuss the on going crisis, but they were turned down. Given that
situation 2017 may be the next time Barzani faces a vote.

The reason for the controversy is that the ruling Kurdish
parties cannot
agree on what to do about the president. The KDP wants another political
deal between the lists like the one that extended Barzani’s term back in 2013.
Barzani’s opponents, the PUK and Change List want to amend the presidency law
to limit the powers of the office and change to a parliamentary system. Neither
side has the votes in the Kurdish parliament to move forward, which has led to
the current deadlock. That favors Barzani who can blame the other parties for
not forming a consensus. In the meantime he can stay in office until 2017. If
no new laws are passed on the matter, and there is no indication that any will be,
he can win another term. The KDP has said as much back in August when it announced
no one would replace Barzani as KRG president as long as he was alive.

Iraq History Timeline

About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. I have written for the Jamestown Foundation, Tom Ricks’ Best Defense at Foreign Policy and the Daily Beast, and was responsible for a chapter in the book Volatile Landscape: Iraq And Its Insurgent Movements. My work has been published in Iraq via NRT, AK News, Al-Mada, Sotaliraq, All Iraq News, and Ur News all in Iraq. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5, Radio Sputnik, CCTV and TRT World News TV, and have appeared in CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, The National, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, PBS’ Frontline, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for the Study of War, Radio Free Iraq, Rudaw, and others. I have also been cited in Iraq From war To A New Authoritarianism by Toby Dodge, Imagining the Nation Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq by Harith al-Qarawee, ISIS Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassahn, The Rise of the Islamic State by Patrick Cocburn, and others. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com